What Do You Know
by Revvie-S
Summary: An off base conversation leads to some changes for Jack and Sam
1. Default Chapter

What Do You Know 

"Jack, can I talk to you for a second?"

Daniel was leaning against the doorway to General O'Neill's office with that curious way he had of looking so relaxed that you thought maybe he'd been leaning there all day.

"Sure, I could use an interruption. So what color do you think the cafeteria should be painted: grey or taupe?" He asked disgustedly, throwing a wrinkled memo on his desk to join its brothers in a precarious pile.

"I, uhh, don't care," Daniel offered.

"Exactly! Thank you. So, anything in particular bring you by?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you'd read the memo yet about the budget for off world archeological missions for this coming year."

"What do you think?" Jack responded, indicating his overflowing inbox.

"Well, right, I figured as much. Here, I brought you a new one."

Daniel doggedly handed Jack a piece of paper, ignoring the look of pain that appeared on O'Neill's features.

Daniel sat waiting patiently to make sure Jack read the proposal.

"Yeah, I don't know, Daniel, this budget thing is really getting to be a problem," Jack mused, "The Stargate program is being cut to bare bones as it is. Can you think of something else to call these missions of yours? 'Archeology' just doesn't do anything for the guys that run the Air Force budget." "Are you telling me that some of these missions won't be scrubbed if I can find a way to make them sound more—military?"

"I might be."

"Okay, then. I'll draw up some alternate mission plans."

"Make them, I don't know, adventurous, technology procuring, G'ouald busting sort of missions."

"Thanks. Will do. Jack, have you seen Sam this morning?"

"No, why?"

"I don't know. I just thought she might have been by to talk to you by now."

"Again, Daniel-why?"

"I should probably let her tell you that."

"Daniel?"

"Alright. You didn't hear this from me, but Sam told me that she and Pete broke up over the weekend. She seemed kinda upset. I just thought she might have wanted to talk to you about it. I know she usually comes to talk with you whenever she's-- well, you know."

"No, I don't know. It just so happens that she comes to talk to me about a lot of things for a lot of reasons. Look, Daniel, go get to work on those proposals. Oh. And if you see Carter, tell her I need to see her ASAP."

Jack went back to work on the sea of papers adrift on his desk, looking serious and very General-like while Daniel left his office with a very self-satisfied grin on his face.

So, Jack needed to talk to her ASAP.

Good.

Daniel had long ago come to the conclusion that the forces keeping Sam and Jack apart weren't worth the cost it was exacting from them, his two closest friends. They needed each other. He'd known that for a long time, even if they didn't.

At first, when they'd started dating, he'd hoped Sam could find in Pete all that was missing in her life, and that he would be the key to Sam finally putting Jack behind her.

But Daniel knew now that the simple truth was inescapable: she would never find in anyone else the soul mate she had in Jack.

And when Daniel realized that truth, something deep in his heart broke for his friends and then and there he had resolved to see what he could do to help them somehow be together.

"Sir? You wanted to see me?"

Sam stood just inside his office doorway, her posture and expression indicating fragility and fatigue. She wasn't looking at him, but just past him, as if by not making eye contact she would be able to hold onto the threads of professionalism that just barely held her together even now.

"Yeah, Carter, sit down for a minute while I finish this report, would you please?"

"Yes, sir," Sam answered very correctly, taking a seat opposite Jack with an uneasy glance at the General as he scowled at the computer screen, his face mere inches from the monitor.

After a few barely concealed curses, he looked over at Carter.

"Carter, what's wrong with this blasted machine?"

"How do you mean, sir?" Sam asked, coming around the desk to peer at the offending piece of equipment.

"I mean, it's frozen up, the little arrow won't move, the hourglass thingie won't go away, and I can't make it move to the next page!"

Sam was already looking more confident and in her element as she moved closer and bent over the exasperated General's shoulder, reaching for the mouse around his right arm.

After fiddling for a minute, she straightened up.

"Well, this isn't good, I'm afraid, sir. You may need to turn the machine off and then back on."

"But I haven't saved--"

"Then you may lose what you've just done, it can't be helped."

"Just do something," Jack said wearily, getting out of his chair and moving away so she could sit down.

Sam was looking almost as weary when she too gave up and reached around the back of the computer to switch it off manually.

"Hey, you do that too? I thought that was a no-no."

"It is, but this 'blasted' machine left me no choice. Do you want me to turn it back on so you can see if any of your work got deleted?"

"Not particularly, at least not right now, no. I really don't want to know yet. Geesh, I hate computers."

Jack had temporarily forgotten his original intention in calling Sam to his office, so peeved was he with this latest roadblock to finishing his paperwork.

"Sir, did you need me for something else?" Some of the fragility had crept back into her tone.

"Huh? Oh!! Right, Carter, I did. Are you free this afternoon?"

"Am I free? Uh. Well, I guess I could put off the tests Dr. Lee and I were going to run. What's up?"

Sam wasn't sure what to make of his question.

"I just thought that maybe you would like to, you know, talk? Friend to friend. What do you say?"

Sam stiffened.

"You know."

"What do I know?"

"You know what you know, someone told you. Sir. Daniel, right?"

"Okay, look, I admit, I know, but I can't tell you how I know."

"Sir, I know how you know."

"Okay, maybe you do, what difference does it make? We're friends, aren't we, Carter? Let's get out of here and go get a beer, or a milkshake- whatever. And talk. If you want to."

Sam looked up.

Until this moment, Jack hadn't been sure whether she would be irritated and blow him off or be glad for his company. But what he saw in her eyes made him ache with sympathy for her. He was suddenly really, really glad he'd gone out on a limb, as uncomfortable as he had felt doing it, and asked her to go out with him for the afternoon.

"C'mon," he invited.

The road wound wildly up the mountain, each curve exposing changing views of the valley spread out below as Jack drove steadily, his destination having slowly taken shape in his mind. There was a tourist-y little town a few miles ahead, nestled against the side of a rugged Colorado peak. He came here when he wanted to poke around anonymously and would sometimes browse the unique galleries and shops, inevitably stopping for a drink in the tiny local bar that doubled as a café.

He'd done some hiking around here over the years as well, and several of his favorite trails had their trailheads near this little town.

And so, having unconsciously sought a place to go where he'd previously found solace, he found himself here now with Sam, wanting to offer her the same sense of refuge if he could.

Jack glanced over at Sam, suddenly realizing that he'd been so lost in his own thoughts that there had been no conversation between them for most of the drive.

He smiled tenderly at her now, propped casually on her coat between the head rest and the door, sound asleep.

The next curve in the road revealed the small mountain village, only a few blocks long, and Jack slowed down. Spotting the rustic café, Jack pulled up behind it and parked.

As the engine stopped, Sam awoke with a start.

"Where are we?"

"Rosa's. It's a place I've been before, and I thought you'd like it."

He got out and came around to her side of the jeep as she let herself out and stretched on her toes.

"Do you feel like pizza? Because Rosa's pizza is about the best on the planet. But if you're in the mood for a sandwich the club is enough to feed Kawalski and Feretti, both."

"Pizza's fine," laughed Sam, picturing the three soldiers goofing around in this out of the way place.

"So you've been here a lot?"

"You could say that. Not lately, though. Not for years, I guess."

Jack pulled out a chair for her as the waitress arrived to take their order.

"Pizza- pepperoni, green peppers and one half pineapple," Jack ordered, stating the standard combination the team usually got, although the pineapple was a nod to Sam, a gesture she found touching. She realized she took for granted how very well Jack actually knew her.

"So, you wanna tell me what happened?" Jack asked as he slipped into the chair across from her.

"Oh, sir-"

"Jack."

"Jack," she repeated, a bit awkwardly. She turned towards him some in her seat, appearing to be pondering where to begin.

"Do you remember a long time ago when Daniel said to me that I don't know what love really is? I've been thinking about that a lot."

"Daniel was out of his head when he said that to you. You can't possibly believe that."

"No, it is true. And now I've just thrown away everything I ever thought I wanted: a man who loves me, a shot at a normal life, a chance for a family- and I don't even know why I did it."

"Sam."

She looked at him, close to tears.

"Tell me what love is."

"What?"

"You just told me you don't know what love is. So tell me, what do you say it is?"

Jack was looking right at her, steady, calm, and encouraging; and she almost physically felt his trust, there to catch her and hold her up even when she couldn't trust herself.

"I thought I knew. I thought Pete and I had found it," she ventured.

"But since I accepted his proposal, every time I think about Pete and I, together for the rest of my life, 'til death do us part…"

She began to cry just as the waitress came up to their table and placed a cold beer in front of each of them.

"Thanks," Jack said softly to the woman, who smiled slightly, understanding in her eyes, and quickly left.

"Okay. So, that scared you, and you broke up with him," Jack prompted.

"Yes. I told him it wouldn't be fair to him to marry me, when I couldn't seem to love him the way he deserves to be loved," Sam blubbered, taking the handkerchief Jack was holding under her nose.

"He loved me, and I hurt him. That's all I ever seem to be able to do."

"He'll get over it."

Sam looked up sharply, anger blooming in her teary eyes.

"What I mean is," Jack explained, "if that's how you really feel about being married to him you'll both bebetter offin the long run."

She nodded, seeing where he was going now.

"Sam, I think you know what love is enough to know that this wasn't it. At least not for you. Now answer the question: what do you think real love is?"

Sam took a deep breath, calmer now as she objectively pondered Jack's question.

"Well, the first thing is, I think I would be thrilled to spend the rest of my life with him instead of being scared to death by the thought."

"That's a good start," agreed Jack, sipping his beer.

"I wouldn't be able to imagine my life without him. He'd be someone I could talk to about anything, someone I trust completely."

Sam grew calmer, more focused, as she took another mouthful of beer.

"He'd be someone whose opinion I sought out automatically, not because I want him to tell me what to do, but because his opinion would matter to me. And he would seek out my opinion for the same reason."

Sam's voice and tenor had changed from despairing and self-incriminating to introspective and hopeful, like a scientist on the verge of a major breakthrough.

Jack's demeanor was also shifting.

The conversation had started out with him clearly in charge, leading the direction of the discussion, a concerned yet neutral close friend.

Somehow in the last few minutes it had taken a sharp left turn, and was now threatening to spin out of his careful control.

All he could do was hold on tight.

Sam went on.

"He'd be someone I'd risk my life for, knowing without a doubt he'd do the same for me."

Sam looked him in the eyes, a dawning understanding lighting her features, although not without an accompanying pain.

"He'd want the best for me and he'd push me to be more than I could imagine myself to be. He'd want me to be happy, even at the cost of his own happiness."

Jack couldn't speak, he couldn't move, he could only sit and try to comprehend what was unfurling before his eyes.

"He'd be my best friend. Talk with me about the hard stuff along with the good stuff."

Sam paused, then went on.

"He'd know how I fix my coffee.

What I like on my pizza.

He'd save me the last MRE with macaroni and tomato sauce in it.

He'd lend me his last pair of dry socks."

Jack and Sam were both grinning now as they remembered the missions that had prompted her last comments.

"He'd put his very important job on hold for the afternoon because he knew I needed him," she finished in a whisper.

An emotionally charged silence hung between them.

"So, see? You do know what love is," Jack answered, barely able to get the words out.

"Pizza! Enjoy it, dears. Need anything else, refills yet?"

Jack had never been so grateful to be interrupted in his life.

He didn't yet know what else to say in response now that he knew exactly why Sam had broken up with Pete.

The Jack in him was running around in circles, punching the air, yelling 'Yes!', but the General was kicking the table leg in frustration, afraid that this would just make things harder between them.

Stuffing his mouth full of pizza would put off the inevitable for a good while, he reasoned, so he ate with single-minded purpose.

Sam felt nervous now, unsure, wishing she hadn't said so much, yet amazed at what she had just figured out for herself. She followed Jack's lead, eating her pineappled half of the pizza with gusto, and quickly downing the rest of her beer.

She was withdrawing, Jack could feel it happening.

He determined to himself that he was not going to just let this thing go.

Sam had all but said that she loved him.

He was not going to let Sam walk away from this never knowing how he felt in return.

"Ready for your check?" The waitress was back.

"Please." Jack handed her a credit card.

"Sam," Jack entreated as they waited for the bill, "you know we're not finished with this conversation yet. Now you ask me."

Jack signed for the bill and they stood and pulled on their coats. He steered her up the sidewalk as they left Rosa's, away from his jeep.

"Okay."

Sam paused, gathering up her nerve to continue.

"What do you think love is?"

"It's…it's…" Jack had thought he was ready for her question, but suddenly he wasn't, and he searched his mind for the right words, words that would convey what he felt for her without compromising their professional relationship.

"I don't know the right words, Sam. But I know what it looks like, and for me, it looks a lot like you."

Jack closed his eyes still struggling for words.

"I know enough of what love is to know that I love you."

"You love me?"

"You know I do."

"Yeah, I guess I do."

They walked on together, side by side, hands in their pockets, for some time. The sidewalk ended as they reached the edge of town, so they stopped, neither ready to turn back.

"There's a good hiking trail right up there, wanna walk it for a bit?" Jack pointed up the slope.

Sam agreed.

"Jack," Sam began as they climbed.

"What, Sam?"

"Nothing about the future is certain. Maybe all we have is what we know right now. And I know that I'm happy when I'm with you. It's when I'm the happiest, it's where I most love to be. It doesn't scare me to death to picture my future with you in it. I'm tired of ignoring what I know to be true."

Jack looked back at her, his eyes bright and gentle.

"So, let's go from here. We'll figure it out."

"I'm not going to let go of this. I want to be with you."

Sam was shocked to see tears in Jack's eyes as she finished. She stopped and faced him, arms wrapped around herself.

"So do I," he responded.

"If you're not going to let this go, then I'm not either. We'll find a way."

Jack reached out for her then and she went willingly into his arms.

As she held him against her, and felt his arms embracing her in return, she knew this truly was exactly where she wanted to be.

"Maybe I do know what love is, after all," she proclaimed, muffled against his padded shoulder.

"You know."

She pulled back as he spoke and looked at his face, gently wiping at the tears still there with her fingers.

Their eyes caught, and she knew then that he was going to kiss her, and her heart surged with the thrill of it.

And it was everything she'd dreamed of.

It wasn't until Jack dropped Sam off at her house late that evening and he was on his way home, alone, that the euphoria began to wear off a little and he had time to think.

He knew without question that they were right for each other. He'd known that a long time.

But the timing had never been right. It never would be right unless he did something to change their working situation.

For Jack, as General of the SGC with a fight against the G'ouald still ongoing, resigning was not an option he would consider.

But after today, he was committed to finding a way to eventually be able to be with Sam.

Jack was at work very early the next morning trying to sift through his inbox, now piled even higher.

He took sadistic satisfaction in the fact that he was now filling Walter's inbox…a retaliation of sorts.

"Good morning, Jack."

There was Daniel, fluidly propped against the doorway, giving the illusion that he'd been lounging there all night.

"Daniel," Jack grunted, throwing another thick report into his outbox.

"Here's my re-written mission proposals," Daniel offered hopefully, placing a stack of papers in front of Jack.

"Thanks. I'll see what can be done."

"So, where did you go off to yesterday? I couldn't find you, or Sam either."

"That's because we were together, talking, off base," Jack explained to his friend.

"Really. All afternoon."

"Yeah. It was a long talk."

"So, is Sam doing better?"

"I'd say so."

"What?"

Daniel was fishing, knowing there was more.

"I said Sam's fine now."

"Jack! Just tell me what happened."

"No! Look, I've got to finish this before Walter shows up with new stuff," Jack grumbled, effectively dismissing Daniel.

"Later, then?"

"Yeah, later. Good bye, Daniel."

"See ya."

Jack didn't see the smirk on his friend's face as he left.

'Well, what do you know,' Daniel gloated to himself.

He couldn't wait to see what would develop.

_A/N: I have sketched out a second chapter to this story butfeel like thismay bea story all by itself- so **maybe** more to come?_


	2. What Do You Know second half

The wind was picking up and the sun was setting on the planet where Daniel was conducting his recently funded archeological expedition, the first of this year's newly budgeted missions.

Teal'C had been on watch now for hours while Sam and Daniel were engrossed in the unearthing of artifacts, possibly of Ancient origin, in a long abandoned site.

Teal'C slowly stood up and stretched to his full height, stiffly unfolding his large form.

"Colonel Carter?" He called, moving towards the site that the two scientists were finding so mesmerizing.

"It is time to make contact with the SGC."

Sam looked up, picturing Jack pacing the floor of the control room back on Earth.

"Thanks, Teal'C. Wow! We really lost track of time. Go dial up, Teal'C, we'll be right there."

With his characteristic nod of respect, he set off towards the Stargate.

"Daniel, how much more time do you think we need to get that set of runes copied?"

"Just a few more minutes, Sam. I'm almost finished now."

Daniel was lying on his stomach carefully recording runes in a dusty notebook from a portion of an old wall that was now on the ground. He was so absorbed in his work that his glasses were halfway down his nose and he hadn't bothered to adjust them.

Sam reached down and affectionately pushed his glasses back into place.

"Come on, we need to go report in to the General."

"Okay, done. Let's go."

The Stargate was just behind the ruins of one of the old city's buildings. As they caught sight of Teal'C just in front of the open wormhole, they saw a flash of what looked like a dart or a small spear hurtling towards Teal'C. He saw it too, ran and ducked and jumped into the shimmering puddle.

A group of men dressed in some sort of metallic suits came rushing up but didn't enter the wormhole, still open before them. They then backed off, looking around the Stargate area intently.

Daniel and Sam immediately backed off and found cover in the ruins, hoping desperately they hadn't been spotted.

Sam's radio crackled. The wormhole was still active.

"Carter, report," she heard Jack's tense voice over her com and could imagine what was probably going through his mind, having seen Teal'C burst through the Stargate at the SGC, under attack and without them.

"Sir. Daniel and I are secure for now."

"Good to hear. Stay under cover, and we'll dial the Gate in 30 minutes to re-establish contact. Dial home immediately if you gain access to the Gate before then."

"Roger, sir. Carter out."

Jack jumped out of his seat next to Siler in the control room and ran down to the Gate level where Teal'C was standing, still breathing heavily from his narrow escape.

"Teal'C! You okay?"

"I am fine, O'Neill."

"What's the situation on the planet?"

This was the worst part of his job, Jack thought miserably, knowing part of 'his' team was cut off from the Stargate on a distant planet and there was nothing he could do to help.

"Unknown, O'Neill. The trajectory shot at me was the first warning we had that hostiles were present on the planet."

"Sir," called an SF, hurrying over to O'Neill.

"This came through the Stargate with Teal'C."

He handed Jack a silvery, barbed dart.

Jack looked at it angrily, storm clouds gathering on his features.

"Get whichever scientists ran recon on this planet for SG1 into my office, now!"

Jack looked at his watch. Twenty-six minutes to go before contact would be attempted. A groan escaped him as he stomped to his office.

Daniel and Sam were trying desperately to melt into the stone ruins as the band of armed men came ever closer to their position, searching for any sign that Teal'C had not been alone.

Sam glanced over at Daniel and found his serene, blue eyes gazing back at her. Strengthened by his unwavering trust in her leadership, she resumed her survey of their situation, looking for a way to escape unseen.

She spotted a dark doorway still intact in one of the structures across the site from them, and pointed to it.

"Let's go, stay close to the ground," she instructed Daniel with one last glance at the location she had last seen the alien soldiers.

They crawled swiftly towards the opening without stopping to look back.

Shouts and cries rang out behind them as they made it to the darkened doorway, causing Sam's heart to sink.

They had been seen.

They dashed inside.

"Over here," called Daniel, pointing to a stairway descending down into the rocky floor.

Without hesitation they dove down the crumbled steps and into a dank room below the level of the ground. As they hid themselves in a crumbling crevice, they could hear their pursuers entering the building above them, with yells and the sound of smashing as the aliens aggressively searched for them.

Daniel reached out for Sam, grasping her hand warmly to reassure her that they were still okay, and Sam leaned against his shoulder. They could see no way out as the searching gang drew closer and closer.

Jack couldn't sit down for more than a few seconds at a time as he watched the minutes creep slowly by, so he opted for pacing back and forth in front of the control room window, watching the Gate below like a hawk.

"C'mon, Sam, dial the Gate," he willed fervently under his breath.

Thoughts of the last five weeks played through his mind.

Five weeks ago, Sam and Pete had broken off their engagement.

Jack had taken Sam out for a talk, knowing she needed a friend to help her work through her feelings, but the outing had ended up far differently from his original intentions.

Sam had said she loved him.

And he had said the same to Sam.

After that incredible, life-changing admission, both Sam and Jack had worked hard to keep their working relationship unaffected.

The same could not be said for their relationship off base.

Unwilling to appear together in public, Jack had shown up that very next weekend at Sam's door, carrying take out and a rented movie, and they'd spent the evening happily cuddled up on the couch not watching the movie.

The next Saturday Sam had discreetly gone over to Jack's and picked him up for a day trip to the nearby mountains, complete with picnic and blanket. They'd spent the day hiking and laughing and talking, and Jack had never felt so completely at ease in the presence of another person as he did with Sam that day.

But that was all.

Work had been busy, and both of them were trying mightily to stick to the slightly mangled regulations until they could find a way to be together that would not tarnish either one's military career.

But the atmosphere between them was so different now. It was so completely without tension or heartache, now that both of them were firmly committed to making a future one day together.

And now she was more precious to him than ever, a fact he would not have believed possible five weeks ago, but his increasing anxiety as he waited for the appointed time of contact was proof of how very much more serious his feelings for her had quickly become.

He rubbed his unruly hair in utter desperation. Five minutes to go, and still no incoming wormhole.

The time had come; the soldiers pursuing them were coming down the steps to the lower room.

Daniel and Sam stepped out simultaneously with zats and opened fire, having decided they had no other recourse but to try and shoot their way back to the Gate.

Daniel's second zat blast hit the rocky ceiling over their enemy's heads and the entire front half of the room unexpectedly caved in.

Sam and Daniel were on their knees gasping for breath in the dust within seconds of the cave in.

The air pocket they were trapped in was totally dark, but they heard no further noises from the direction where their pursuers had stood seconds before. They could only assume that they had been caught in the falling debris. The end of the room near the stairway to the surface was now completely full of rock and dirt.

After endless minutes of silence except for their wheezing in the precious little air left around them, Daniel spoke.

"Sam, are you hurt?"

"I don't think so. You?"

"My leg's trapped."

Sam felt around his waist and down his leg and bit back a curse as she realized his leg was indeed trapped under a large boulder from the lower thigh down.

"Does it hurt?"

"Not yet, I can't feel anything yet." Daniel voice was a bit weak.

"Carter? Daniel? Please respond," the com in her vest pocket flared to life.

She was so relieved to hear his voice, she almost kissed the radio.

"General O'Neill," she responded breathlessly.

"What's your situation, Colonel?"

"We're trapped in a collapsed building. Not sure where the hostiles are. We can't get out. Daniel's hurt. Running out of air."

Her staccato bits of data were spoken with great effort.

"You can't get to the Gate," Jack asked for confirmation.

"No, sir," she answered, then closed her eyes and gasped for breath.

"Stand by, Carter."

Jack signalled to Reynolds, who was awaiting his orders.

"Send a probe through right now to check for hostiles and then prepare two SG teams for extraction, possibly under enemy fire; be prepared," Jack barked out.

He wanted nothing more than to charge through that blasted Gate and dig them out himself single-handedly.

"Sam." he called, no longer caring who heard his familiarity with her.

"Here, sir."

"Hang in there. Do you copy? We're coming to get you."

"Hostiles, sir."

"Don't worry about it, Colonel. It's not your problem any more."

"Roger. That. Out."

Static was all Jack heard now as Sam's radio clicked off.

She turned her head towards Daniel, although the gesture was useless in the blackness of their rocky prison.

"Daniel?"

"I'm still here, Sam. It's beginning to hurt. A lot."

She could hear pain building in his voice.

"Stay still, Daniel, try not to move."

She placed a warm hand on his shoulder, reassuringly massaging the muscles there.

"Sam. Tell me what Jack and you talked about a few weeks back."

Only Daniel would use a situation like this to blackmail juicy information out of her.

But to keep him distracted from the pain, she answered him.

"He took me to this little pizza place up in the mountains. We talked about..."

After a moment of silence interrupted only by labored breathing, Daniel prompted,

"About what?"

"Oh. About Pete. Me and Pete. We broke up."

"I know...you told. Me." Daniel voice was a bare whisper.

"I told Jack...didn't want to marry....Pete...didn't love him."

"I told Jack....I loved him."

"Wait....you said...not love him."

"That was Pete. I love... Jack."

"You... love Jack?"

"Yeah, I ...love him."

More silence, then a gasp of pain from Daniel.

"That's...aghh!... so cool."

More silence.

"So...what now?"

"I don't know...you know?"

"Yeah, get... reassigned."

"Don't ...wanna reass."

Sam was breathing faster, more shallow.

"Daniel, I can't... I can't get air," she said, beginning to panic.

"Relax, it's okay..." Daniel soothed in an almost nonexistent tone.

"Don't have... to leave SGC, Sam. Research position...civilian scientist."

"Save ...your strength."

"He loves you....too."

"He told ...me."

"He... told you?"

"Yup."

"Well I'll be," Daniel mused in amazement.

"Sam."

"Daniel?"

"I'm blacking out..."

"Stay with me, please Daniel! Please..."

"love you..." his voice faded away.

Sam tried not to cry, but the tears were slipping down her dirty face anyway. She cradled Daniel against her as best she could, feeling her own brain slipping towards blackness as well.

"We're through the Gate, General."

Reynolds' voice came clearly through the com.

Jack could no longer raise Sam or Daniel.

"No sign of hostiles, sir. We're going to look for Jackson and Colonel Carter in their last known positions."

"Roger, Reynolds. Keep me posted."

Jack was about to jump out of his skin.

Reynolds easily spotted the recent cave-in as dust was still swirling in the air above the site.

In a few minutes, they had dug through enough to allow air into the pocket below the surface, and a few minutes after that they were able to lower a light down to have a look around.

"There's bodies here, sir."

Reynolds stiffened, trying to prepare himself for the possibility that Sam and Daniel had not survived.

"They're...alien bodies, sir."

"Set up a chain and pass the dirt out, let's go!" Reynolds barked as the two SG teams redoubled their efforts, with two men keeping guard on the perimeter.

"Reynolds, report," Jack's impatient voice came over the radio.

"Stand by, sir," Reynolds answered, knowing how to handle O'Neill.

'Stand by,' Jack thought miserably as he paced.

If he got Sam back in one piece, he was going to make sure she never went through that Gate again.

How he was going to make sure of that, he was less sure of, but he was very sure it would kill him to go through this waiting game again.

"Colonel O'Neill," Reynolds finally called.

"Report," Jack returned.

"Close the wormhole. We're ready to dial up. We have retrieved Carter and Jackson and they're both alive. Require immediate medical assistance waiting at the Gate, sir."

"Roger," Jack said, signalling for the wormhole to be shut down.

Who needed immediate medical assistance?

Damn.

"Get a medical team in there, now," Jack shouted at the control room in general.

Sam had never totally lost consciousness, but she was very disoriented as the team pulled her to safety, fighting them with feeble fists as they lifted her out of the hole.

"Colonel Carter, we're rescuing you," a young lieutenant tried to explain to her as he held her arms at her sides.

"Rescue?" She parroted.

"Rescue Daniel...still in there...rock on his leg," Sam pointed as she gasped in the sweet fresh air.

"Yes, Colonel, they're getting him out right now. He's going to be okay."

"Okay?"

"Right."

She closed her eyes in relief.

"Sam?" Jack whispered in her ear as she lay dozing in the infirmary.

Her eyes opened slowly, reluctantly.

"Jack." She whispered his name cautiously.

"How's Daniel?"

"His leg is broken, but he is in pretty good shape other than that."

"The aliens that were after us?"

"All dead in the cave in, as far as we could tell. There were only four of them. I don't get it. There's no sign of indigenous people on that planet anywhere we've looked."

"Well, I've been thinking about that, sir."

"In your sleep?"

"I think they came from somewhere else, through the Stargate, and were off exploring when we came through. Maybe they thought we would cut off their access to the Stargate."

"You weren't threatening, so why would they attack?" Jack countered.

"Like you said, I was asleep when I thought of it. My theory may have a few holes still."

"You nut," Jack teased.

"Been thinking about something else, too."

"What's that?" Jack was holding her hand, taking advantage of the nurses' absence.

"I want to be reassigned. I want a research position, no more field assignments."

"You sure?"

"I am. The biggest attraction about field missions for me is now sitting behind a desk running the SGC."

"You love field missions. We need your expertise out there."

Jack was playing the devil's advocate, making sure she knew what she was requesting.

"Well, look at it this way. When SG1 started, there were two teams- SG1 and SG2. We were basically irreplaceable back then. Now there's 24 teams. There's lots of expertise out there in the field, but more artifacts and technologies are being brought back than can be processed efficiently. I only want to do the lab work now. That's where all the answers are going to be to 'finding technology to defend ourselves against the G'ouald.'"

"So that's it? That's what you want and that's why you want it?"

"You know exactly why I want it, sir," Sam smiled bewitchingly.

"And that's exactly why you're going to get it," Jack promised dangerously.

The nurse came back in.

Jack sat up, distancing himself, but with his eyes still locked with Sam's.

"Good night, Colonel," he said officially as he left.

Daniel was standing in her lab door three weeks later, leaning bonelessly on his crutches as if it was the easiest thing in the world to be hobbling around with a casted leg.

"Hey, Daniel, how's the leg doing?"

"Great, Sam. I heard some news about you."

"That I've been reassigned to full-time research on alien artifacts and technology at the SGC?"

"That's what I heard. So I guess you want to thank me, then?"

"Ummm, thank you. For what?"

"I believe it was my brilliant idea for you to take this position so you can remain on the Stargate program but be outside of a certain someone's chain of command?"

"Be quiet, Daniel!" Sam hissed, her cheeks coloring as she looked at the young scientists working in the room behind her.

"Actually, you have me to thank for more than you will ever know," Daniel said with a mischievous smirk as he literally dashed off, leaving Sam amazed at how fast he could go on crutches.

Her curiousity peaked, Sam excused herself from her colleagues and made her way to Jack's office.

Repeating her short conversation with Daniel to Jack, she seated herself in front of his desk with a quizzical look on her face.

"Do you have any idea what he meant?"

Jack looked confused, until Sam literally saw the lightbulb go on in his brain.

"So, Daniel suggested to you that you take this new research position. Daniel is also the one that just happened to tell me that you and Pete broke up."

"I knew it!"

"And suggested that you needed to talk to me, me specifically, about it. And made sure my afternoon was covered that day and told me so. Well, maybe we do owe Daniel a very big thank you. Sounds like he's been playing Cupid for a while now. That sly dog!"

O'Neill looked appropriately impressed and pleased.

An hour later, O'Neill was watching down the hallway from his office, after having called Daniel to report to him immediately.

"Okay, here he comes. Ready?"

"Of course."

"Jack?" Daniel called out.

Daniel walked into the General's office, confused as to why the lights were out if he had just been told to report there. He snooped around, looking on Jack's desk and down into the Gate room, trying to find a clue as to where O'Neill had gone.

Then he heard it.

A giggle, a very suggestive giggle, from O'Neill's coat closet.

Then a lower growl, which could only be Jack's voice.

Shuffling, more giggling and the sudden clunk of a broomstick hitting the floor.

Was that-- no, it couldn't be...it was...moaning!

Daniel turned and fled.Trying not to laugh out loud, Jack and Sam watched him through a crack in the door.

After a good laugh, one in which Sam actually had tears running down her cheeks, they relaxed against the coats stuffed into the tiny closet.

"As long as we're in here," he began.

A predatory look stole over Jack's face.

"What!?"

"Ow!"

"Ohh."

"Mmmmm."


End file.
